Possible Great White Shark Visiting Martha\'s Vineyard- \'Swim At Your ...

Tag : Shark Fin
According to the Town of Edgartown, Massachusetts, official website there is a warning about a shark sighting at South Beach and anunconfirmed shark sighting at State Beach, to which they announceand underline, "Swim at your own risk".

Lifeguards spotted the shark in the waters off of Martha's Vineyard yesterday, claiming the dorsal fin of the shark stuckapproximately 2 1/2 feet out of the water, fueling speculation thatthis shark was a Great White, which is the largest largestpredatory fish known in the world.

Great Whites can grow to 22 feet and weight up to two tons.

Besides the sightings from the life guards 75 yards in at SouthBeach in Edgartown, authorities received other reports, unconfirmedas of yet about shark sightings along State Beach, which was thesite used in the first scenes of the movie "Jaws".

A great white shark sighting is rare, but not unheard of inMassachusetts waters, said Greg Skomal, a shark specialist with theDivision of Marine Fisheries. He said the species has a rangespreading from the Gulf of Mexico into Canadian waters.

According to another report , Great Whites are not unheard of in this part of the country.

Last August, one or more great white sharks made meals of seals offCape Cod beaches near Chatham. In 2004, a 1,750-pound (794kilogram) great white swam into an inlet off Naushon Island, nearMartha's Vineyard, and stayed there for more than two weeks,resisting biologists' efforts to evict it.


In the interest of public safety, Massachusetts state closed thebeaches at the South Beach State Park, yesterday.

According to Arthur Smadbeck who is the chairman of the Board ofSelectmen, they do not believe this will damage their tourism,saying, "People will be so darn curious we'll probably be inundated withpeople wanting to see it."

One of the unconfirmed sightings has been declared a hoax by a 60-year-old Boston man, Michael Lopenzo, allegedly concocteda story about a shark sighting, after the beaches had been closedfrom the prior sighting by the lifeguards.

Police officials are debating whether to charge Lopenzo fordisturbing the peace.

State officials insist that the beaches are safe, but there isalways the stipulation that "Sharks Sighted, Swim at your ownrisk!"

More on Great White sharks can be found at Marine Bio .

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